News

With hope fading and regulations tightening, more Jewish camps set to cancel

Rising sixth-graders at Camp Ramah in California on the beach during an overnight trip. The camp has said "we cannot open camp in mid-June or run our summer sessions as scheduled." (Courtesy of Ramah in California)

May 14, 2020 / Ben Sales, JTA

(JTA) — At the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, and as recently as a couple weeks ago, some Jewish camps had hoped they could run for part of the summer. For a growing number of camps, that hope now appears to be vanishing. Two Conservative Ramah camps look increasingly… Read more »

Union for Reform Judaism announces layoffs and furloughs
May 14, 2020 / Shira Hanau, JTA

(JTA) – Two weeks after announcing the cancelation of its summer programs in the United States and Israel, the Union for Reform Judaism announced staff layoffs Wednesday. Approximately 60 full-time employees, constituting 20% of the organization’s staff, were laid off. The organization also implemented a temporary pay reduction between… Read more »

Senate legislation would expand COVID-19 projects with Israel to lessen dependence on China
May 14, 2020 / Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) — The Senate has introduced legislation to enhance partnerships between American and Israeli companies on COVID-19 projects, thus lessening U.S. dependence on China for life-saving medications and treatments. The bipartisan legislation was introduced on Wednesday as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, on a whirlwind eight-hour visit to Israel, criticized… Read more »

‘The entire system got confused’: Israeli schools reopen, but many parents aren’t sending their kids back

Israeli first- to third-graders social distance and bring doctor's notes at the entrance to their Jerusalem school, May 3, 2020. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)
May 14, 2020 / Sam Sokol, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — On the first day that Israel’s schools reopened nine weeks after closing to stop the spread of the coronavirus, Kalanit Taub’s 8-year-old daughter stayed home. As a third-grader, her classes were among the first wave of those to resume. But her 10-year-old brother’s classes hadn’t yet… Read more »

Israeli soldier seriously injured in West Bank car-ramming attack
May 14, 2020 / Marcy Oster, JTA

JERUSALEM (JTA) — An Israeli soldier was seriously injured in a car-ramming attack Thursday in the West Bank as violence there escalates. Israeli troops shot the Palestinian driver as he “drove quickly toward IDF soldiers next to a military post” in an apparent deliberate attack, the Israel Defense Forces… Read more »

Portugal’s ruling party wants to limit Jewish law of return policy

Two Israeli women arrive in Lisbon, Portugal, Feb. 15, 2020. (Cnaan Liphshiz)
May 14, 2020 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — Portugal’s ruling Socialist Party says it wants to stop giving citizenship to descendants of Sephardic Jews, partly because the application process has turned into a business venture. The announcement came in a draft amendment submitted Monday by the party to a 2015 law that ensured the naturalization… Read more »

Holocaust education funding bill passes U.S. Senate
May 14, 2020 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — The U.S. Senate unanimously approved $10 million in funding for Holocaust education in American schools. The vote Wednesday approving the Never Again Education Act, coming after overwhelming approval for the same bill in the House of Representatives in January, sends the bill to President Donald Trump,… Read more »

Tucson Pops plans virtual Mother’s Day concert
May 8, 2020 /

Maestro Laszlo Veres isn’t allowing the cancellation of the spring season of Tucson Pops Concerts to get in the way of his celebrating Mother’s Day.  Traditionally, the orchestra performs ‘My Yiddishe Momme” each year as part of the special concert celebrating mothers.  The poignant piece written in the early 1900s… Read more »

Fauci to Orthodox Jews: Ease into communal prayer as gatherings become possible

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks at the daily briefing of the White House Coronavirus Task Force at the White House, April 10, 2020. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
May 8, 2020 / Ron Kampeas, JTA

WASHINGTON (JTA) — Dr. Anthony Fauci, who directs infectious disease research for the federal government, advised Orthodox Jews to phase in communal prayer as local governments lift coronavirus pandemic restrictions. “The kind of social interactions which is the core of the beauty of your culture has unfortunately led to… Read more »

London city worker secures Jewish funeral for 95-year-old man who died alone

A picture of Herbert Max Fraenkel that a team of volunteers studying his ancestry found in January at his home in London. (Courtesy of The Jewish News)
May 8, 2020 / Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA

(JTA) — After several weeks at a London mortuary, the unclaimed body of 95-year-old Herbert Max Fraenkel was slated to be buried in a shared grave at a pauper’s funeral. Fraenkel, who was born in 1924 in Berlin, died alone at his home in January. City workers were unable… Read more »

Many people are having their conversions to Judaism delayed during the pandemic. Others are going ahead with them in creative ways.

ConversionRenee Godinez had her son pour spring water on her to symbolize immersing in a mikvah. (Courtesy of Godinez)
May 8, 2020 / Marcy Oster, JTA

(JTA) — Renee Godinez had completed nearly all the steps to becoming Jewish before the coronavirus pandemic descended earlier this spring. She had studied extensively with Rabbi Rick Winer of Temple Beth Israel in Fresno, California, and adopted Jewish practices in her life. All that was missing was a… Read more »

COVID-19 antibody testing slots available in Pima County
May 5, 2020 /

The University of Arizona – State of Arizona’s COVID-19 antibody testing initiative has additional testing slots now available in Pima County for health care workers, first responders, and members of the general public.  The testing will determine if an individual has developed antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19.… Read more »

Tucson Hebrew Academy makes fast switch to online learning

A fourth-grade student at Tucson Hebrew Academy displays a Lego® tower he created after the school switched to remote learning in mid-March. The structure, which demonstrates engineering principles, can hold a ball for longer than two minutes. (Courtesy Stephanie Buchler/Tucson Hebrew Academy)
May 1, 2020 / Phyllis Braun, AJP Executive Editor

Gov. Doug Ducey announced the closure of Arizona schools on Sunday, March 15  to mitigate the spread of coronavirus. On March 16, Tucson Hebrew Academy was ready with online learning, says Head of School Laurence Kutler, Ph.D. ”We were prepared two weeks before it happened,” Kutler says, explaining that THA… Read more »